VALENTINE’S Day in more recent years has seen modern day Romeos and Juliets wildly professing their love in time-honoured Valentine’s cards and, more often than not in recent years, publically on social media and in the columns of Valentine’s messages in today’s newspapers.

However, 85 years ago in Southampton the celebration of St Valentine’s Day was much more prim and proper with displays of affection back then a little more restrained, according to the Daily Echo of February 14, 1931.

“Southampton took a prominent part in today’s sentimental revival,’’ said the Daily Echo’s daily diary, Topics of the Hour.

“Valentines were sold during the week and many hundreds must have passed through the post during the night.

"This year’s Valentines are quite artistic affairs, quite as attractive as better class Christmas cards."

The manager of an Above Bar shop today told the Echo that a pleasing feature of this year’s sale of Valentines was the number of elderly married couples who bought them to spring a little surprise on each other.

“Bleeding hearts in a surround of paper lace have disappeared, and so, too, the most vulgar type of Valentines.’’

The history of St Valentine’s Day can be traced back to a Catholic Church feast day, in honour of St Valentine.

The day’s associations with romantic love arrived after the Middle Ages during which the concept of romantic love was first formulated.

The day is now most closely associated with the mutual exchange of love notes in the form of “Valentines.’’

Since the 19th century, the practice of hand writing notes has largely given way to the exchange of mass-produced greeting cards.

It is estimated that, world-wide, approximately one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas.